Vapor cloud forming behind a Blue Angel as it breaks the sound barrier
© Heather Rainbow

Don’t Give Up the Dream of Discovery

Space has been on my mind lately (outer space, that is).

First, there was the farewell to the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Next, Felix Baumgartner made a freefall from space.

And then Heather Rainbow’s lens captured a Blue Angel at the point of breaking the sound barrier.

All of these space explorations inspire me to keep the dream of discovery alive.

Farewell to Endeavour

Thousands of people crowded the streets of Los Angeles to catch a glimpse of the slow rolling parade and to pay tribute as the Endeavour was retired to the California Science Center.

• The lumbering spacecraft, an icon of America’s space explorations, rumbled past fast food drive-ins, car washes, and project housing.
• Trees and phone lines had to be cleared so it could travel the 12 miles (three days!) to its final resting place.
• “Shuttle Crossing” signs were planted along the streets.

The journey was surreal—a spacecraft that had explored the great frontiers now looked more like a character in a slow motion O.J. Simpson car chase.

But it was an Oh I see moment, nonetheless. This craft took humans out into the universe, time and time again. You could almost hear John F. Kennedy’s voice: we choose to go to the moon “not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” We (America) had a dream, and our dream came true.

To relive the farewell parade of the Endeavour, go to Matthew Givot’s amazing time lapse video.

If the video does not display, watch it here.

Freefall from Space

Next, there was the record-breaking freefall of Felix Baumgartner from the edge of space.  For Felix, his “one giant step” from the stratosphere was the Oh, I see moment of a lifetime.

• He stepped into a nine-minute journey to earth, traveled 128,100 feet, and is the first human to have broken the sound barrier . . . without a plane.
• He fell at nearly 833 mph (the typical skydiver falls at 120 mph).
• In the end, he knew he was just a tiny piece of a much larger puzzle. “When you are standing at the top of the world, you become so humble. It’s not about breaking records anymore.”

The Right Moment in Time (and Space)

Sometimes, the space frontiers come knocking (or sonic booming) at our own backdoor, and we can have an Oh, I see moment away from the media headlines. For photographer Heather Rainbow, that moment came during the Blue Angels performance over San Francisco and she captured it in an instant.

How ready do you have to be to catch that moment when an aircraft is about to break the sound barrier—when the pressure around the plane forms a vapor cloud in anticipation of the sonic boom? You just click the shutter and hope that “the force is with you.”

All these events make me say OIC in awe. Can you see sound? Can you hear the silence of outer space? Can you touch history? Can you still marvel at the wonders of the universe with all your senses?

Yes! Let the dream of discovery live on.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.